Oregon lawmakers are once again considering a bill that would allow self-serve gas throughout the state.
House Bill 2426 would give drivers the option to pump their own gas anywhere in the state, ending a decades-long ban on self-serve gas enforced by only Oregon and New Jersey since the middle of the last century. (Oregon’s ban took effect in 1951.
The bill would still require each station to staff half its pumps for customers who are elderly, disabled or simply don’t want to pump their own gas. But it would allow customers the option of filling up on their own instead of waiting for an attendant.
In the last few years, the pandemic, climate emergencies and staffing shortages have left gas stations short on attendants.
Shawn Miller, a spokesperson for the Northwest Grocery Association, said the bill wouldn’t cut gas station jobs, primarily because most gas stations around Oregon haven’t been fully staffed for years.
“You’ve heard of the tremendous (workforce) challenges our stations are having right now,” he said during a February legislative hearing for the bill. “Half the lines are closed, we have to close the pumps.”
Oregon in 2015 legalized self-serve gas at night in some rural and coastal counties. In 2017, it expanded that rule to all rural counties. And the state fire marshal has lifted the self-serve ban every summer since 2020 during wildfires or heat waves.
“This bill would dramatically simplify this regulatory patchwork,” said Rep. Shelley Boshart Davis, R-Albany. She, along with bill co-sponsor Rep. Julie Fahey, D-Eugene, described the inconsistent rules between counties or at different times of day.
Oregon has heard the call for self-serve gas before. Two statewide polls in 2021 showed that more than 60% of Oregonians were in favor of having the option to pump their own gas. In the 2022 short session, lawmakers introduced a similar bill that died in House committee.
—Jayati Ramakrishnan; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com